In the handling of piles of wood (layers of wooden boards or like structures) it is desirable to provide devices--commonly called "ties"--extending transversely to the boards between the boards to prevent the piles from falling apart during handling. Such ties are useful, both in sawmills or planning mills, before the piles are strapped together, and also are useful to the ultimate consumers after the strappings have been removed.
Conventionally such ties are provided by simple strips of scrap wood or the like. While such pieces of scrap wood are generally acceptable, since wood is not inherently a homogeneous material--but rather contains knots and other irregularities--the wood strips become irregular, locally weakened and unwieldy if they are too thin. If made thick enough so that such undesirable irregularites are avoided, then they become increasingly expensive and can significantly increase the overall dimensions of a pile with a specified number of boards.
According to the present invention, a device is provided that replaces conventional wooden strips in the stacking of wood piles, which device performs the ultimate functions of the wood strips as well as or better than the wood strips. The devices according to the present invention are inexpensive and easily produced, have sufficient resistivity against longitudinally directed tensile stresses, provide sufficient frictional engagement, and are sufficiently readily insertable during formation of a wood pile, so that stacking may be accomplished quickly, safely, and easily, utilizing automatically operated devices if desired, to provide a final pile capable of easy handling.
The device according to the present invention comprises a longitudinally elongated strip of stiff cellulosic material (such as cardboard) having a predetermined constant width and formed by a pair of layers over the majority of the width thereof, and defining a plane. Means are provided for maintaining the layers together, such as adhesive; and means are provided for imparting bending resistance to the strips so that when held at one end with that end horizontal the free end does not deflect significantly from the horizontal. The bending resistance imparting means preferably comprises a plurality of longitudinally elongated projections formed from at least one of the layers of stiff cellulosic material, and standing upright from said plane substantially the entire length of said strip.
The longitudinally upstanding projections preferably consist of a pair of projections, one provided at each of the lateral edges of the strip. Each projection is defined by a longitudinally extending channel that is substantially triangular in cross-section with two legs of the triangle formed from one of the strip layers and other leg formed from the other of the strip layers. Buckling of the channels is prevented by a fibrous material bundle disposed in the channel and adhesively secured to the channel. The fibrous material bundle may comprise a plurality of strands of a material such as hemp, sisal, or spun paper.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved device facilitating the stacking of wooden boards or the like into a pile for easy handling. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention, and from the appended claims.